Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo face uncertain future, with online games like Fortnite earning billions of dollars
The dominance of game consoles seems in doubt with the advent of games that only need an internet connection to play, and earn billions of dollars. However, industry professionals believe Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony aren’t dead yet
The measuring stick for success between the big three gaming companies Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo has long been how many consoles they’ve sold. But all three have had banner quarters in which they largely highlighted software rather than hardware sales, underscoring a shifting relationship between the games and the boxes on which we play them.
This change reflects a broader conversation in the industry about the future or even death of the console as we know it – away from the powerful box in our living room towards a more mobile world where even technologically demanding games can be played on any screen that has an internet connection.
How does a free game make over a billion dollars in five months?
Recent games such as Epic’s Fortnite, which is played online and has taken the world by storm, show that a console isn’t necessary for even a fast-paced multiplayer game. Nintendo is launching its first subscription game service in late September.
The chief executive of game publisher Ubisoft said in an interview earlier this year that he believed the next generation of consoles would be our last. “There will be one more console generation and after that we will be streaming, all of us,” Yves Guillemot told Variety.
“Being able to play content anywhere would be huge,” says Doug Creutz, media analyst at Rogers and Cowan. With the technology to beam console-quality games to any device, he says, consumers wouldn’t have to spend the money for a US$600 or US$800 box, and developers wouldn’t be constrained by the processors and chips that fit in a console.